


Some Sued for Mercy

by lirin



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: B2MEM 2019, Easterlings, Foreign Language, Gen, Post-War of the Ring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 08:51:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18070271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: An Easterling is brought before the King of Gondor.





	Some Sued for Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> As the POV character of this story is an Easterling and most fluent in his native tongue, all speech in that language is in plain text, while speech in other languages less familiar to him is in italics.
> 
> For G54 (Easterling) on the "Languages of Arda" bingo card.

All was come to ruin.

And yet perhaps not entirely, for had not Mordor often been a goad and a burr in the side of the peoples of the East? Perhaps Gondor would prove the better of two evils. At very least, it was farther away from their borders, and perhaps would interrupt their governance less.

These thoughts swirling through his head, Khûdag waited in the anteroom of the King of Gondor. One by one, names were called, and his erstwhile allies were escorted into the throne room to meet their fate.

It was said that the King was inclined to be merciful; Khûdag prayed that were so, else it were better that he had been cut down on the battlefield in a more honorable death. He knew very little else of this King: only that he was a Man, come to Gondor from the North to claim his birthright.

Khûdag wondered what the North was like. Cold and rainy and dreary he supposed; full of strange tongues like the Elvish gibberish that all the high folk of Gondor spoke. Would the King even deign to speak the Common Speech, or would he speak the Elvish tongue? Perhaps, if he were as good a man as everyone said, he might even had a translator, so that Khûdag would not be put to shame as he tried to respond. He knew a few words of the Common Speech, enough to make himself understood on trading journeys in those golden days before the war when he and Varl had gone into business together; and in these days of war, enough to communicated with his fellow servants of Mordor who came from other, lesser lands than his beautiful homeland.

" _Marcy_ ," Khûdag thought to himself. No, " _Mercy_ ". The word sat strange. He had heard it before, but never in all his dealings in the Common Speech had he had need to speak it. But now he must speak this strange speech, and beg for something he had never before desired.

" _Kudag of the East_ ," a herald announced, and pointed at Khûdag in case he had not understood his horrible pronunciation of his name. Khûdag stood and followed the man, willing himself to meet his fate.

* * *

King Elessar of Gondor was a fine enough man to look upon: broad-shouldered and mighty. He sat on a great throne at the top of a stepped dais. Khûdag walked to the bottom of the steps and there fell to his knees. " _Mighty king_ ," he said haltingly in the Common Speech, " _I hurl meself unto your mercy_."

"I have no wish to destroy those who desire mercy and who no longer array themselves to war against me," the King replied, and Khûdag felt relieved that he had understood every word the King had spoken.

It was several seconds before he realized why: the King had not spoken in the Elvish gibberish, nor even in the Common Speech, but in Khûdag's own tongue! He stared at the King in wonder. "You know the tongue of my people?"

"I have traveled in the East in my younger days," the King told him. "It is a goodly land, much different from Gondor or from the country of my birth, but beautiful in its own way."

"It is, indeed, most beautiful," Khûdag said. "I wish to return there. I wish to be at peace with all lands, and to take a wife and to make my living by the trading of goods, as was once my occupation before Mordor ordered us to provide a troop for its support, and my own sister's husband insisted that I be its captain."

"I, too, wish for peace between all lands," replied the King. "I do not wish to grind the people of the East under my heel, now that the Shadow has departed from Middle-earth. Go, trade your goods and find a wife in your homeland." He stood up, and said in a loud voice, " _I pardon Khûdag of_ _Rhûn_ _, and declare him free to return to his homeland in the East_." 

Khûdag got to his feet, and then bowed low. "I thank you for your mercy, mighty king." The word mercy came much easier through his lips when spoken in his own tongue and to such a good man. "May relations between our lands be better henceforth."

"May they be so indeed," the King replied. He raised his hand, and the audience was ended. Khûdag bowed again and hurried out of the throne room, already planning his route home.

**Author's Note:**

> There is very little known about the East of Middle-earth in general, much less their tongues in specific. Since two of the very few names we do know (Khamûl & Khand) begin with kh, I chose to begin the name of my Easterling character with the same sound.


End file.
